University of Pennsylvania senior Lucy Chai of Acton, Mass., has received a Churchill Scholarship from the Winston Churchill Foundation.  She is among 15 recipients of the honor, awarded annually to American students to fund a year of master’s study in science, mathematics and engineering at the University of Cambridge’s Churchill College.

Chai will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Science. The bioengineering and computer science major will pursue a master’s in machine learning and speech and language technology at Cambridge.

A member of the Rachleff Scholars Society in Engineering, Chai has conducted research on network neuroscience approaches to studying cognitive functions, focused on dynamic brain networks during language processing and cognitive development in youth. Her research has been published in the Cerebral Cortex and Network Neuroscience journals.  She has also served as a board member for the Tau Beta Pi honor society and Penn Club Swimming and has volunteered with Miracle League games in adaptive baseball for children with cognitive disabilities.

More information about the Churchill Scholarship is available at http://www.winstonchurchillfoundation.org/.